The NorthSide Blog is a companion blog to STL Rising. The proposed Northside project brings promise and hope to the city of St. Louis, but it also brings very real challenges. This blog is dedicated to the issues, possibilities, and challenges represented by the proposed NorthSide plan

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Efforts to open a community dialogue at McEagle's Northside Regeneration website forum page have failed to develop. This week, the only activity on the forum has been spam posts about things like how to catch a cheating spouse or how to increase the income of your own personal business.

Since the site went live on July 7th, there have been no responses from McEagle officials to any questions or comments raised by the community.

In the meantime, community residents continue their push for a local set of redevelopment goals. Representatives of the Community Benefits Alliance appeared on KWMU's St. Louis On The Air program with Don Marsh yesterday.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The Post Dispatch is reporting that the St. Louis Police Department arrested 14 violent offenders accused of operating a crack cocaine ring in the JVL neighborhood, site of much of the proposed NorthSide redevelopment.

Meanwhile, an anonymous commenter at the Ecology of Absence blog is suggesting there is a connection between Paul McKee's efforts to improve the community and these arrests. Does anyone have information to validate this claim?

Friday, July 10, 2009

People interested in the advancement of St. Louis need to keep up on the terminology.

St. Louis has lots of acronym named organizations, but lately I've read about one involved in the NorthSide effort that I've never heard of before. It's called "OSB" and it sounds like it has something to do with property maintenance.

Can anyone explain what "OSB" stands for and what it does? Is it a public or private entity? A division of the City of St. Louis or McEagle affiliate? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

So far there have been practically no comments or questions from the public nor official responses from McEagle reps at the NorthSide project forum. Not much of a forum yet. If you care about what happens, post to the forum!

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

It's a possibility. The Clemens House needs a use and at some point, McEagle might want a local office for the NorthSide project.

The Clemens House would be a great location, in the heart of the area in a rehabbed historic building. Or maybe something smaller, but local to the neighborhood?

A local office would give the developers a place to house maintenance crews, a management office, a conference room, and, important for community engagement, a convenient location for St. Louisans to meet and work with the NorthSide developers.